September

Well, school has started and Faith is loving her class and teacher. Emily is really enjoying Middle School. I was a bit nauseaus about it, but seems for no reason other than it does make me think about how old she is getting and what a precious young lady I have instead of a little girl. She is up at the crack of dawn to run Cross Country in the mornings & then plays on the volleyball team. They just took 2nd place in a tournament last weekend. Was great fun to watch. Faith is ready to start a sport, and we will soon. She will be great at it once she starts. She is very competetive & is sooo fast. :)

This last week has been such a long one. Last Sunday morning early we got a call in the middle of the night that Nana had fallen. I got to the hospital before she did, so went to her place. They were trying to stabalize her before they took her to the hospital. But as she was on the stretcher, she looked up at me & told me she had broken her hip. Just what we all dreaded ever happening. It has been a long week of family rallying around and being with her 24 hours a day. She had surgery that i truly was concerned that she would not come back from, but came thru with flying colors, and she is now in a rehab hospital where she walked yesterday...we are so thrilled!

My Sixth Grader and my First Grader! Can't believe it!

Grandad & Momi's Birthday...they got some cool gifts!

Can't Believe Summer is over!!!

My 2 amazingly beautiful girls...My biggest blessing is to be their momma!

Smiles! oh so sweet! Climbing our favorite tree in Rockport!

Next time we need tennis shoes!

"Hello! Anyone there?"

Giggling girls...nothing better!

Fun time in Rockport!

We were working on writing letters in the shaving cream...they were working on making faces!

Sea World jungle gym net...was quite a climb for Faith! But she is a very determined little girl &

very competetive! She wants to keep up with Em!

Ok...so we have to take a few business calls while we are playing. :)

Two BEAUTIFUL girls!!!

3D glasses are the coolest! Fun at the circus!

Emily's 1/2 birthday party- sweet girls all being oh so silly!

Not sure that i will even attempt to expain these pictures...:)

Hiding while playing "Flah light tag" in the dark

at the Hill Country Hyatt...the flash from my camera

was not very popular... They make YUMMY drinks there...

Word searches and puzzles...popular past times.

Floating in the Lazy River Hula Hoop contest.

Dancing- tada!

This has been an incredible summer. We have had tons of fun in the midst of very busy schedules. Faith is wonderful and again can't even begin to express how great it is to have her in our family...just can't imagine it without her! Last week we snuck away for a few days, tried to bury the phones as much as possible & just enjoy the kids. We went up to one of our favorite spots -Hill Country Hyatt in SA. The kids rode bikes, enjoyed hula hoop contests, roasting marshmallows, building sandcastles, floating on the lazy river and watching movies on the lawn and eating & snacking all day long. Great fun! Today the girls and i went to Rockport to visit Susan & Ale & just enjoyed the day piddling around Rockport, enjoying ice cream & their little aquarium area along the water. Faith had a party to go to for one of her friends tonight. They were in class together & it was fun seeing how much she could really talk to them now. Brinley was always so precious to Faith when she came to the class at the end of school last year- she just took her under her wing & i am so grateful for such a sweet friend.

Faith is doing so well with her English now...she understands really everything we say to her & can get across to us anything she wants to. Her sentences are becoming better each day & we are all working hard to help her every step of the way. Emily is our biggest help in this as she & Faith interact constantly all day long. I am really going to miss them being here all day when school starts. But i do think they are both ready. It was been a busy summer work wise, so not as much going on as summer past, but i think that it has been great for Faith to have stayed put awhile & have this truly become her home. She is certainly a home body. If i need to go out & run errands or show a house & I ask her to come with me, she will always choose to stay here if that is at all an option. She does not enjoy the heat of South Texas at all! She loves to swim...which is a great thing, since we love to do that as well.

We have gotten the jet skis out a few times & played up at the lake, which is always a blast for everyone. Emily, Faith & I went to Kids Camp together for 4 days last month up at Camp Zephyr on Mathis Lake. That was sooo much fun for all of us. Faith only went because I was going...but Emily was gracious enough to be excited that we were both coming. :) We did Sea World a few more times...we saw the Ringling Brothers B & B Circus which was fantastic...It was great watching Faith's face as she watched the show. So precious thinking that so many of these things are truly firsts for her. Emily had a 1/2 birthday party (since hers is at Christmas time-when life is crazy). The girls had fun doing a photo scavenger hunt at the mall & swimming at Mimi & Papas & having a slummber party. I hired 2 awesome teeager's to help out & it was a fantastic time...i highly recommend that!! :) REALLY can not believe that summer is over & schedules start up again in 2 days!

More Fun!

The last few weeks have been filled with more fun with Faith. Faith graduated from Kindergarten. She & Emily are out of school & McKenna (a friend of Em's) has been here to spend a few days with us. We had fun playing, getting our nails done, shopping, getting Keva juice, shopping & getting more Keva juice...no Keva's in Louisiana. We went horseback riding on the beach, went to see Faith's first movie at a theatre here in the states, I do think that she has been to one before possibly. She was a HUGE fan of the horseback riding, which I was so thankful for, since there was really no turning back once we got out on the beach. She loved trotting & she was a natural, just like her big sister.
Today we went ice skating at the Galleria in Houston. I would love to show you pictures of that...but that would mean that I would have had to have had my camera with me for this beautiful occasion, which i did not! :(
Saturday some dear sweet friends had a Welcome Tea Party for Faith. Precious little girls playing, giggling & having fun. It was hard to explain to her what it was for, but she LOVED it! Gifts were a big hit...what kid doesn't love that! She has now been introduced to Webkinz...we are hooked. She is a techno kid & loves anything on the computers, or Nintendo, etc
We played a game on the drive home from Houston today that we play a lot...we call it the Apple, Banana, Cantaloupe game...you each take turns naming a food that starts with the next letter of the alphabet & you have to repeat all the previous ones each time. Emily worked so hard at explaining the game & helped Faith at each turn to say them & name her next one...I was amazed that she got the concept sort of...but every time we got to the "J" which we had named "juice", she would say, "No, Water"...which is what she prefers most of the time over juice. Cute- but guess you kinda had to be there to see how cute it was.
Yesterday, Mac, & Em were playing "Monkey in the Middle" in the back yard with Faith & Jeff's nephew, Tyler in the middle. Emily would make gestures to Mac as to where to stand to get the ball. When it came to Faith's turn to throw, she started making those winks & shakes of her head to the side to indicate where she wanted her team mate to go. Although the concept of doing it discreetly is foreign to her at the moment. :0 It was another funny that I tried to capture...see the video below...




Sweet Friends gave Faith a Welcome Home Tea Party...

Mimi Letting Faith play with her I Phone. :)

Faith covering Mac & Em up in sand...she enjoyed this a little too much probably. :)

Cool Gal!

Emily & her singing group...aren't they beautiful?! Miss Faith loves them all! Having fun playing tag with Emily & McKenna at Kids Place.

That smile says it all!

My sweet cowgirls!